1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system card inserts, and more particularly to an expandable blank card insert system and method.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems are adaptable to perform a number of different functions. One convenient way to provide additional functions to an information handling system is to use external cards adapted to support desired functions. An external card inserts into a card bay having a connector that interfaces the external card with the information handling system through a standard format, such as is defined by the PCMCIA standard. For example, portable information handling systems often accept a wireless network card in a PCMCIA bay to enable wireless network communications. The PCMCIA standard defines the size and layout of the external card and information handling system bay connectors so that power, control and data are exchanged in a defined manner. Standardized card and connector sizes allow manufacturers to offer desired functionalities by incorporating functions into a standard card that inserts into any standard compliant information handling system. Typically, portable information handling systems include two stacked PCMCIA bays. To protect the bay connectors from contaminants, blank cards are sometime inserted in the bays to block entry of contaminants into the bays, such as during shipping from a manufacturer to a purchaser of an information handling system.
One difficulty with standardized external cards is that some functions include components that do not readily fit in a defined bay slot. For example, one function proposed for external cards is a rotational storage media, essentially a miniature hard disc drive that inserts into a card bay. However, the rotational media tends to use more bay room than is typically need for other types of functions, such as wireless networking cards. A follow-on proposal to the PCMCIA standard provides for varying use of bay space with different sized external cards by placing two bays in a side-by-side horizontal configuration. The horizontal bay configuration allows an external card to interface with a single bay connector but use the space of the adjacent bay for components that will not fit in a single bay, such as an external card rotational storage media. However, external cards that have a variable width are often difficult to securely couple in a bay since support between the two bays is sacrificed to allow room for over-sized external card components. For instance, during shock and vibration testing, external card configurations that do not completely fill both adjacent horizontal bays are susceptible to being dislodged. Dislodging of a card during operation typically results in failure of the function performed by the card and can result in damage to the card or the bay connector.